Electric-line insulator



No Model.) J J TRACY ELEGTRIG LINE INSULATOR.

No. 586,700. Patented July 20, 1897..

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN J. TRACY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC-LINE INSULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 586,700, dated July 20,1897.

Application filed May 27, 1897. Serial No. 638,338. (No model.)

To Cb whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN J. TRACY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State ofConnocticut, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements inElectric-Line Insulators, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the class of overhead electric insulators whichare provided forholding telephone, telegraph, signal, light, power, andrailway wires.

The object of the invention is the prod uction of a simple andinexpensive insulator for holding such wires which is so constructedthat when in use and attached to a flexible, swaying, or somewhatyielding support the wire which it holds will not be subjected totensile strains by the movements of the support.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawingshas a base which is adapted to be solidly attached to the support and abracket with an insulated wire-holding part movably connected with thebase, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in theclaims.

Of the views, Figure .l is a front elevation of such an insulator. Fig.2 is a rear elevation. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. 4. is avertical section of the same. The base or frame 1 is made of anysuitable material, preferablya tough cast metal, in any desired outline,and is provided with suitable perforations 2, whereby it may be spikedor otherwise firmly secured to the trunk, limb, or bough of a tree or toa flexible or somewhat yielding pole or other support. Movably connectedwith this base is a bracket or arm 8. In the form shown this bracket isconnected by a pivot at with the base, so that it may have a lateraloscillation. Projecting rearwardly from the back of the bracket, nearthe end opposite the pivot, into a curved mortise 5 in the base is a lugG. The mortise is formed on the arc of a circle the center of which isthe axis of the pivot 4, and the end of the lug is bent behind the edgeof a wall of the mortise, so the movable end of the bracket cannot bepulled from the base when it is subjected to strain.

The outer end of the arm of the bracket, which mayextend in any desireddirection, is

preferably provided with a screw-thread, and fitted upon this is aninsulating-cap 7. The cap 7 may be an ordinary interiorly-threaded glassinsulator, having the usual moistureshedding skirts, or it may be aspeciallyshaped cap secured to the end of the arm by any othercommonmeans, or it may be formed of composition and molded onto the end of thearm of the bracket.

The base of this insulator can be nailed, spiked, or otherwise firmlysecured to the trunk, limb, or bough of a tree or to any other yieldingsupport and then the wire secured to the insulating-cap in the ordinarymanner. hen the trunk, limb, or bough of the tree or other support towhich the base is attached moves or sways back and forth, as influencedby wind, the wire held by the insulating-cap is not alternately pulledtaut on one side and slackened on the other, and thus is not subjectedto tensile strains, which, if they do not break the wire immediately, soimpair the strength of the wire that in a short time it gives way, as isthe case with the wire held by a common insulator fixed to a swayingsupport, so as to move with every motion of the support. The wire holdsthe insulating-cap and bracket-arm of this insulator stationary, and thetrunk, limb, bough, or other support is free to move and sway with thebase of the insulator without drawing the loosely-connected bracket andinsulating-cap, for the base has a free movement with relation to thebracket which it supports except as held by the pivot which connects theparts.

This insulator is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture,and easily arranged for use.

A wire held by such an insulator when attached to a tree or swayingsupport is not subjected to tensile strains incident to the moving ofthe support, therefore has considerably longer life than a wire held byan insulator that is fixed to a swaying support and is stretched firstin one direction and then the other by every movement of the swayingsupport.

I claim as my invention- V 1. An insulator having a base adapted to besecured to a support that is liable to move, and a bracket with aninsulating wire-holdin g part lnovably connected with the base andadapted to be held stationary by the wire that is connected with it whenthe base moves with its support, substantially as specified.

An insulator having a base adapted to be secured to a support that isliable to move, a bracket inoyably connected to the base, and aninsulating-cap secured upon the end of the bracket and adapted to beheld stationary by the Wire With which it is connected when the basemoves with its support, substantially as specified.

3. An insulator having a base, a bracket connected With the base, at oneend by a pivot and at the other end by a lug, and an insusulating-capconnected with the bracket, substantially as specified.

JOHN J. TRACY.

Witnesses:

II. R. Wrnnnms, E. V. Fo'll-rnru'unn.

